It appealed to me in the sense that you were able to traverse the world almost from the get-go in the Gullwings airship instead of going through the obligatory 2/3rds of the game before getting chocobos and vehicles.

But I think that X-2 was a ploy to appeal to more female gamers and to try and continue on with the Tidus/Yuna love story thing even if he was dead or whatever.